28



Mr. W. E. Teschemakek,



lie sells but his own health, for dirty cages are thoroughly

unhealthy to have in a house. The matter requires very

thorough investigation, and as an aviculturist I feel the respon¬

sibility of it.



THE NESTING OF THE HAWFINCH.


Coccothrausles vulgaris.


By W. E. Teschemakek, B.A.


The Hawfinch, with its robust physique and iron consti¬

tution, has all the appearance of being a bird of the Northland:

one might expect to find it in the great Siberian forests in

company with the Waxwing and the Pine Grosbeak. As a

matter of fact, however, it is found in greatest numbers in

Southern Europe, ranging from the Atlantic to the Black Sea ;

it is rare in Northern Russia and Scandinavia, and in the far

East gives place to a subspecies, C. japonicus. South of the

Mediterranean it is found, though only in small numbers, in

Algeria and Tunisia. In Great Britain it nests in every county

south of the Border, except Cornwall, hardly ever in Scotland

and never in Ireland. Thus we may infer that this species likes

a warm climate and a generous diet and has not proved itself

very adaptive to other conditions, which is a matter for some

surprise seeing that the Grosbeaks, as a family, are able to

adapt themselves to almost any climate. For instance of three

American species, the Evening Grosbeak, the Rose - breasted

Grosbeak and the Yellow-bellied Grosbeak, the first is found

in the silent forests of the remote North-west, where the hardy

trapper and ‘prospector’ have never ventured to set foot, the

second in the States and the third is a tropical bird.


The Hawfinch is a bird of most irregular distribution and

of peculiar roving habits — a wildern creature, rejoicing in its wild¬

ness. Here to-day, it is gone to-morrow ; one year it will breed in

a district in some numbers : the next, not one nest will be found

there. As it is to-day, so it has apparently always been. In an

old work dealing with the birds of Sussex, as observed during

the first half of the last century, I find the following note:—“Of

uncertain occurrence, being not unusual during some years and



